The men’s hockey team won its fourth game of the season this past weekend with a 2-1 victory at Colby. Saturday’s victory was the first time in team history the Cardinals defeated the Mules, which brings their all-time record to a whopping 1-18-2 against Colby.
The win avenged a 3-2 home overtime loss to the Mules in 2007-08 as well as a 4-1 loss in Waterville in the NESCAC Championship quarterfinals. As if this milestone was not enough, the 2008-09 Cardinals became the first Wesleyan team ever to get a win in Maine. Although Wesleyan holds an all-time record against Bowdoin of 2-12-2, both wins over the Polar Bears came in Middletown. (Wesleyan has never competed against Bates, which currently does not field varsity men’s or women’s ice hockey teams.)
The team will not have much time to dwell on the milestones, however, as they are in a heated playoff race with Tufts. With its win over Colby this past weekend, Wesleyan moved above Colby, last year’s top seed and NESCAC semifinalist, in the playoff race and now must the overcome the Jumbos to clinch the final playoff spot. With one weekend of play remaining, Wesleyan is facing two must-win games, and has to hope that Tufts struggles in its endeavors in Boston this weekend against UMass Boston and Babson. The Cardinals get two home games this weekend against Castleton State and Skidmore.
Instrumental to the Cardinals’ success against Colby this past weekend were goal scorers Jeff Beck ’10 and Dave Layne ’10. The Cardinals took a 2-0 lead early and did not give up a goal until there were only 29 ticks left on the clock. Goalie Mike Palladino ’09 was spectacular, making 32 saves to keep the Mules at bay. Wesleyan struck in the first period when leading goal scorer Dave Layne netted his sixth tally 4:51 in, with help from Tom Salah ’12.
When asked about his recent goal scoring success, Layne replied, “I’ve changed my pre-game routine slightly and I think it has been able to be more focused on putting the biscuit in the basket.”
A mere 1:34 later, Beck stuck in his fourth goal of the year with some help from A.J. Ferraro ’12 as well as Anthony DePietto ’11. Following the second Wesleyan tally, the teams played scoreless hockey for 53 minutes. The only way Colby was able to break Wesleyan’s strong defense was with a sixth skater when they pulled their goalie with a little over a minute left.
“We played tough all weekend like you asked, and we are going to have to continue the team effort, dig deep, and do everything in our control to give us the best shot this year,” said Brent Winship ’09.
In addition, Saturday’s game marked just the second time in team history the Cardinals held Colby under two goals. The first came in a 1-0 home loss during the 2005-06 season in which goalie Dave Scardella ’07 made 35 saves in just under 59 minutes.
The victory over Colby followed a 5-3 loss to Bowdoin on Friday night. Wesleyan drew first blood as captain J.J. Evans ’09 scored just 16 seconds in, but the Polar Bears tied it for a 1-1 score at intermission. Dallas Bossort ’09 put Wesleyan back on top with a power-play marker 5:26 into the second, but the Polar Bears scored three times in the period to go on top for good. Wesleyan cut its deficit to 4-3 midway through the third, but Bowdoin added an empty-netter with 27 seconds left to ice the win.
Overall, though, the Cardinals are looking to build on their strong efforts in Maine and sweep their final home weekend.
“There is no doubt that home ice will be a factor this weekend,” Bossort said. “If we can get two more wins this weekend and go into the playoffs on a high note, we will have a good shot.”
The hockey team unanimously requests a good turn out this weekend in Spurrier-Snyder Rink to help propel them into the playoffs. The team will square off against Castleton State on Friday night at 7:00. The following afternoon, the Cards will get a shot a Skidmore at 3:00.
Leave a Reply